10th October: World Mental Health Day

The importance of mental health care has dominated headlines throughout the year, amidst a myriad of industry reports and nationwide concerns over awareness and treatment of mental health issues– particularly when it comes to children.

It has been suggested that a child’s first meaningful involvement with mental health often doesn’t take place until their condition has reached crisis point.

One in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health problem (according to a recent report by think tank, Centreforum*). Which is the equivalent of three in every classroom and around 720,000 children across the country. By interviewing at an earlier stage, serious mental health conditions can be addressed and potentially avoided.

One of the organisations flying the flag for early intervention is Drawing and Talking… which provides low-cost, one-day courses to adults (predominately teachers, TAs and learning mentors), training them in a short-term intervention therapy method for use with children who are on the waiting list for CAMHS or other external agencies.

The method is designed to be used with children who have suffered trauma – perhaps bereavement or abuse – which is effecting their behaviour and in turn, their ability to learn. To date, Drawing and Talking has trained over 7,000 professionals and its method is being implemented in around 5,000 UK schools.

For more information on Drawing and Talking, visit drawingandtalking.com.